The first comprehensive account of English Renaissance literature and the culture which shaped it.

Illustrations; Chronology of texts and events, 1500-1600; Contemporary lives Charlotte Spivack; Introduction Arthur F. Kinney; 1. The sixteenth century Colin Burrow; 2. Tudor aesthetics Clark Hulse; 3. Authorship and the material conditions of writing Wendy Wall; 4. Poetry, patronage, and the court Catherine Bates; 5. Religious writing John N. King; 6. Dramatic experiments: Tudor drama, 1490-1567 Leah S. Marcus; 7. Dramatic achievements Suzanne Gossett; 8. Lyric forms Heather Dubrow; 9. Narrative, romance, and epic Donald Cheney; 10. The evolution of Tudor satire Anne Lake Prescott; 11. Chronicles of private life Lena Cowen Orlin; 12. Popular culture in print Garrett Sullivan and Linda Woodbridge; 13. Rewriting the world, rewriting the body Raymond Waddington; 14. Writing empire and nation Richard Helgerson; Index.